RE: A New Look at Torsens

["Lewis, Gary M" <Gary.Lewis@West.Boeing.com>]

The current list.  I know some (if not all) have been de-cried as false at
one time or another, but that isn't part of this exercise yet.  You'll all
get you chance to slam these one by one after we get a comprehensive list.
BTW, I have one also.  see # 4.

> 1. (Phil P.) Possible differences in the specification of the alignment
> job itself, _NOT_ the actual numbers used.  Hints have suggested it's a
> 'less than one hour' job for US dealers, whereas Audi in Europe allows two
> hours and BR Motorsport frequently take three.
> .
> 2. (Jim Haseltine) Where the driver sits.
> Dave & Phil sit on the righthand side, Jeff & Scott on the left, so the cg
> of their cars are different. Now unless Audi build cars that have a cg on
> the centreline when unlanden (bet they don't) then the cg's when loaded
> will be in different places, not just displaced by similar amounts left or
> right. We probably all know how the positioning of a load can affect the
> handling of a vehicle. I'm not saying that this is the answer but it could
> well be a contributing factor.
> 
> 3. (Jim Haseltine) maybe a combination of the different cg and Ur-q
> chassis/suspension have moved the bite point outside the handling envelope
> of an Ur-q? Before the Torsen reaches the 'bite' the driver has already
> lost it... 
> Keep them coming.  I'll try to compile this list as it grows.  Perhaps
> this
> is the way to get to the bottom of this, 'cause the way we've been going
> isn't working.
> 
4. (Gary Lewis)  Is it possible that some components between the Euro
vehicles and USA vehicles are different?  I do know that the right hand
drive vehicles have different parts, so there is one example.  But what
about gearing and differentials, other driveline componenets?  We admittedly
get the shit stuff here in the USA, maybe we got the retards version of a
torque sensing device.

Gary...